Multi-color attachment to the print roller in roller printing



R. K. SMEJDA June 23, 1959 MULTI-COLOR ATTACHMENT TO THE PRINT ROLLER IN ROLLER PRINTING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 21, 1955 R. K. SMEJDA June 23, 1959 MULTI-CQLOR ATTACHMENT TO THE PRINT ROLLER IN ROLLER PRINTING Filed Sept. 21, 1955 2 Sheets-$heet 2 -part s omitted,

United States MULTI-COLOR ATTACHMENT To THE PRINT ROLLER IN ROLLER PRINTING This invention relates to roller printing on textiles and more particularly to means feeding a plurality of print pastes in a defined and controlled manner to any selected roller. w 7

'Since the number of print rollers on any roller print machine isgenerally below'half a dozen and cost of engraying of rollers as well as mounting the roller for printing is an added cost, an increase in printed colors can be achieved economically only by increasing the number of colors produced by any single roller. The various colors have to be able to accentuate the pattern in a favourable way and the whole apparatus has to'be versatile enough to permit any number of variations and combinations of color schemes in compliance with the ever changing ways of fashion.

In the past roller printing on textiles has been confined to one color per roller. Sometimes partitionshave been introduced along a doctor blade to feed at random a limited supply of diflferent colors to one roller. The lack of control in this'principle produced some merging effects, which were claimed as ombre eifects. No attempt has been made previous tothis invention to govern the various forces and variables appearing during a roller printing process.

One object of this invention is to provide a versatile rnulti-color feeding apparatus, which is easy to install, easy to .operate and economical in operation.

2,891,474 Patented June 23, 1959 more adaptable is the apparatus to specific dimensions of Another object isto employlthe rotary pump action of the print roller itself tosupplythe mechanical forces necessary for adequate continuousfeeding of print pastes.

It is to be understood, that the invention here disclosed is not to be limited in its application to the details of confstruction and arrangement of vparts shown in the drawings since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways.

Also it is to beunderstood, that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is used for purposes of description only and not by way of limitation.

system,

Figure 5 a fragmentary view in section through three separator caps and two vibrators,

:Figure 6 a fragmentary side elevation of one feeding chamber,

Figure 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 with the exchangeable parts omitted,

Figure 8 a fragmentary side elevation of another type feeding chamber,

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 exchangeable design elements and the increase in the number of compartments automatically increases the number of possible variations and permutations. The width of any feeding section 1 will range from A to about 3"; For different purposes sections 'of different width may be employed. Usually one apparatus will contain sections of identical widthonly, but sections of varying width may also be used to advantage in combination. Each sectionmay contain a difierent color; or any number of sections may be combined to carry the same color; slightly gradated tones in adjoining sections willproduce ombre elfects.

The apparatus as a whole is supported by a metal frame 2 which fits into theregular adjustable brackets for the color pan on-the print machine. 'The supporting frame 2 may have means for fineadjustment of the contact pressure between feeding chamber and print roller.

Each feeding section 1 of the multi-color attachment consists of a large supply chamber 3 and a feeding chamber. 4.. The two areconnected by a narrow channel 5, which may be regulated individually or closed entirely by means of'a gate 6. The feeding chamber 4 contacts the print'roller 14 directly and is supposed to seal its contents from the contents of the adjoining chambers 4. The feeding chamber 4 is equipped with means to assure complete saturation of the engraving of print roller -14 with print paste in a continuous manner. The apparatus may be constructed as a complete unit, or may be assembled from ready made sections, which can be combined to suit any particular printing width. The ready made sections, Fig. 11-, have one's'ide wall left out for ease of manufacturing. The on'ewall of the adjoining section is designed to provide the second side wall for the previous section. In each section a largesupply chamber 3 is located generally above'the'level of the feeding chamber {to permit gravity flow for the initial filling of the whole syste'niwith print paste. Control gates 6 are interposed be tween the two chambers 3 and 4. The gates are controlled by a rod 7 which'is threaded to carry a thumbscrew. 8, saidscrew Sbeign held in position by the rod 7 and the connecting bar 9. The bar 9 may be lowered a full step after turning the lever 10, thus closing the color flow overv the full printing width. -After raising the connecting jbar 9'for the same step the individual adjustmentYis fully reinstated. Individual adjustments "are made byturning lth e thu'nibsc'rew 8 of any'sectionl manually. This may benecessar'y to take care of differences in viscosityor dif- 'ferentj 'iickup by thepr'int roller 14 at particular points.

The length of the rod 7 showing above the connecting bar 9 serves as'indicator' (Fig. 2) for the degree of adjustment.

' After passing the gate section the print paste movesliiito an intermediary section which acts as a trap for foreign partieles and may" contain one or several filters 11 (Fig. .8) A darn 12 extending part of the height of the feeding chamber .4, forces the print paste to flow upward forfbett'eir filtering, and to supply the paste at the nearest point to the entering line of the downwards rotating roller 14. The dam'12 also provides'a barrier which prevents disturbance of the incoming color supply throughexcess print paste returned into the lower part of the chamber ,bythe ductor blad e .13. The returning paste mixes with f'thej incoming pasteindirection of positive feeding pres sure (Fig. 8).

The contact area between any feeding chamber 4 and the print roller 14 may be classified into three distinct parts. The first part is the line of contact 16 between the print roller 14 and the cover plate 15 of the feeding chamber 4. The second and largest area is the area of free contact 17 between the enclosed print paste and the print roller 14. The third is the exit line 18 with the roller leaving the contact area. Here a ductor blade 13 is installed to remove excess print paste from unengraved portions of the roller 14. The general contact area on the print roller is situated at the lower front segment, since this position allows visibility and accessibility of the upper front portion of the roller as well as freedom of operation at neighboring nips.

The first line of contact 16 is equipped with resilient and/or permeable material such as bristles, sponge, felt, or the like. The resiliency is desirable to compensate for normal deflection of the roller surface, the spongy quality is used for promotion of adhesion of print paste to the roller 14 and for removal of entrapped air in the engraving. The first contact line 16 is part of the cover plate 15, which covers all the feeding chambers 4 over the full printing width and is removable.

The free contact area 17 provides space to install means for active compression of the print paste into the engraving during the short contact period with the everchanging portion of the rotating roller 14. Various means are proposed for this purpose, they may be used individually or in combination within the same apparatus to suit special conditions of high viscosity print pastes or high surface speed of the print roller. One way is the insertion of vibrators 19 (Figs. 2 and 3), which are kept under moderate pressure by the spring 19a against the print roller 14 and are agitated by the rotating roller itself. Several vibrators 19, one on top of the other fill the contact area 17. The vibration causes pressure Waves in the print paste, which promote penetration of the engraving of the print roller 14. The vibrator 19 consists of one transversely undulated sheet, preferably resilient material, for which polyethylene plastic would be a suitable example.

Another embodiment illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 uses a channeling system with a compression area in flow direction, created by a conveniently located block 20. The excess, scraped oif by the ductor blade 13, is channeled back immediately into the direct feeding flow.

The ductor blade 13 extends over the whole length of the apparatus and may be either stationary or movable in a conventional way. It consists conveniently of semi-hard, pliable material with good abrasion resistance; polyethylene or rubber sheeting are some of many possibilities. The ductor blade 13 is exchangeable either from the front or from the side of the apparatus.

All parts in direct contact with the rotating roller 14 are designed to be exchangeable. Abrasion resistance and semi-hardness are essential features. This requirement includes the separating divisions 21 (Figs. 6 and or 21' (Fig. 10a), they are inserted between the feeding chambers 4 and supplement the permanent divisions 23. Several types of separating divisions 21 may be used; for perfect separation solid separators 24 are advisable, while semi-permeable or permeable separators 25 consisting of spongy material or bristles allow a merging effect at the border between the color contents of two neighboring feeding chambers 4. The exchangeability of various types separators 21 permits infinite variations of solid and merging color effects with the same apparatus. The separators are shaped to follow the curvature of the print roller. In their contact against the roller they rely either on their resiliency for effective separation of the adjoining print pastes or are supported by a slight spring pressure 22. The separators 21 are linked with permanent division wall 23 by any conceivable practical means, two examples are demonstrated in Figures 5, 6 and 8.

It is understood, that various forms of the invention other than those described may be used without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for gravity feeding a plurality of print pastes to one horizontal printing roller, comprising a plurality of serially disposed independently operating feeding units lying in a horizontal line parallel to the printing roller, each feeding unit comprising a supply chamber and a feeding chamber extending laterally from the bottom of the supply chamber into close proximity with the surface of the roller, the feeding chambers being aligned and lying generally in a horizontal plane, each feeding chamber having a height which is small compared to the diameter of the roll, the end of each feeding chamber which confronts the roll conforming to the contour of the roll and having a transverse wiper blade at the entrance side, which is first traversed by the roll surface, the opposite, exit side of such end of the feeding chamber having a transverse doctor blade to remove excess paste deposits from the printing roller, and a transversely extending dam across the lower portion of each of the feeding chambers to force the paste upwardly and to trap foreign particles.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, comprising a longitudinally extending flow dividing block in each of the feeding chambers between the dam and the roller, the block being of such configuration that it forms with the surface of the roller a channel which converges in the direction of rotation of the roller.

3. Apparatus for gravity feeding a plurality of print pastes to one horizontal printing roller, comprising a plurality of serially disposed independently operating feeding units lying in a horizontal line parallel to the printing roller, each feeding unit comprising a supply chamber and a feeding chamber extending laterally from the bottom of the supply chamber into close proximity with the surface of the roller, the feeding chambers being aligned and lying generally in a horizontal plane, each feeding chamber having a height which is small compared to the diameter of the roll, the end of each feeding chamber which confronts the roll conforming to the contour of the roll and having a transverse wiper blade at the entrance side, which is first traversed by the roll surface, the opposite, exit side of such end of the feeding chamber having a transverse doctor blade to remove excess paste deposits from the printing roller, and thin partitions separating the successive feeding chambers, the roller-contacting edge of at least some of the partitions being resilient and permeable to some degree to the paste.

4. Apparatus for gravity feeding a plurality of print pastes to one horizontal printing roller, comprising a plurality of serially disposed independently operating feeding units lying in a horizontal line parallel to the printing roller, each feeding unit comprising a supply chamber and a feeding chamber extending laterally from the bottom of the supply chamber into close proximity with the surface of the roller, the feeding chambers being aligned and lying generally in a horizontal plane, eachfeeding chamber having a height which is small compared to the diameter of the roll, the end of each feeding chamber which confronts the roll conforming to the contour of theroll and having a transverse wiper blade at the entrance side, which is first traversed by the roll surface, the opposite, exit side of such end of the feeding chamber having a transverse doctor blade to remove excess paste deposits from the printing roller, and an adjustable means for individually controlling the rate of flow of paste from the supply chamber to the feeding chamber of each feeding unit.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, comprising means for simultaneously selectively stopping and starting the paste flow in all feeding units.

6. Apparatus for gravity feeding a plurality of print pastes to one horizontal printing roller, comprising a plurality of serially disposed independently operating feeding units lying in a horizontal line parallelto the printing roller, each feeding unit comprising a supply chamber and a feeding chamber extending laterally from the bottom of the supply chamber into close proximity with the surface of the roller, the feeding chambers being aligned and lying generally in a horizontal plane, each feeding chamber having a height which is small compared to the diameter of the roll, the end of each feeding chamber which confronts the roll conforming to the contour of the roll and having a transverse wiper blade at the entrance side, which is first traversed by the roll surface, the opposite, exit side of such end of the feeding chamber having a transverse doctor blade to remove excess paste deposits from the printing roller, and a narrow generally vertical paste-conducting channel connecting the supply chamber to the feeding chamber of each feeding unit.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 6, comprising a vertically adjustable gate in the channel of each feeding unit for individually controlling the rate of flow of the paste in such unit to the printing roller.

8. Apparatus for gravity feeding a plurality of print pastes to one horizontal printing roller, comprising a plurality of serially disposed independently operating feeding units lying in a horizontal line parallel to the printing roller, each feeding unit comprising a supply chamber and a feeding chamber extending laterally from the bottom of the supply chamber into close proximity with the surface of the roller, the feeding chambers being aligned and lying generally in a horizontal plane, each feeding chamber having a height which is small compared to the diameter of the roll, the end of each feeding chamber which confronts the roll conforming to the contour of the roll and having a transverse wiper blade at the entrance side, which is first traversed by the roll surface, the opposite, exit side of such end of the feeding chamber having a transverse doctor blade to remove excess paste deposits from the printing roller, and a plurality of superimposed roller contacting sheet-like members disposed inthe feeding chamber, said members 6 being vibrated by the roller and conducting paste to the roller between them.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein the members are corrugated longitudinally of the feeding chamber.

10. Apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein the peaks and hollows of the members confront each other, so that the members present a plurality of longitudinal tubelike channels between them.

11. Apparatus for gravity feeding a plurality of print pastes to one horizontal printing roller, comprising a plurality of serially disposed independently operating feeding units lying in a horizontal line parallel to the printing roller, each feeding unit comprising a supply chamber and a feeding chamber extending laterally from the bottom of the supply chamber into close proximity with the surface of the roller, the feeding chambers being aligned and lying generally in a horizontal plane, each feeding chamber having a height which is small compared to the diameter of the roll, the end of each feeding chamber which confronts the roll conforming to the contour of the roll, being presented only to the side of the roll, and having a transverse wiper blade at the entrance side, which is first traversed by the roll surface, the opposite, exit side of such end of the feeding chamber having a transverse doctor blade to remove excess paste deposits from the printing roller, each supply compartment and its feeding compartment including an integral member having one side only and a bottom, said members being held tightly in aligned side-by-side relationship to form said feeding units.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,888,240 Munson Nov. 22, 1932 2,151,968 Henderson Mar. 28, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 2,128 France Apr. 16, 1827 

